Very strict regulations apply to mailboxes and particularly rural type mailboxes, both as to their manufacturing specifications and to what can be placed therein. Inside the mailbox itself only postage prepaid mail delivered by the U. S. Postal Service or outgoing mail with postage prepaid waiting for pickup can be placed therein. The laws relating to the postal service includes stiff fines or imprisonment or both for using mailboxes for any other purpose.
Both paid and volunteer workers hand deliver fliers and community announcements on a fairly regular basis. These various items can be attached to the exterior of mailboxes in various ways such as affixing the same with tape, folding the same and wedging them between the box and the flag associated therewith, or simply placing them between the door and the box opening. Many of these items are blown away by the wind or completely ruined by rain thus creating both a litter problem and a loss of information to the residences or businesses for whom the information was intended.